Hey all. I’m looking for a charger for a friend of mine that’s getting started in the flashlight world. I started him with a few Sipik 68’s as I did. 0:) Now he want’s to move on to a bigger brighter light or two. I’m looking for recommendations on the cheapest charger with reliable build quality and a true charge cutoff so he doesn’t have to worry too much about the lithium safety factor. He’s going to start with 18650 lights and may not move above or below that point but versatility is always a good thing. I’d like to stay in the 10-20 dollar price range. I use an Xtar WP2 myself and have been very happy with it but he’d like to spend less if he can. The Xtar MC1 Plus looks like a nice budget charger for $10 but does it actually stop charging when the battery is at capacity? I haven’t found that info. I just want to be comfortable with knowing that the charger I choose for him won’t start a fire if he forgets that he had a battery charging overnight. Not that I believe that it’s a common occurrence but better safe than sorry… All advice is appreciated. Thanks.
Sorry, you have contradicted yourself there.
You think you can explain to your friend how much and what worry is enough, and what would be too much?
You wouldn’t give li-ion cells to a friend who wouldn’t worry about using them safely — and understand there are risks besides picking the right charger.
EDIT — I was right, he wouldn’t (grin) — clarification in following responses. We agree on how to protect our friends and how to be careful with li-ions.
Thanks Hank. I hear you. I guess I was just thinking that with a good quality charger and quality protected cells the risk is minimal enough that with some basic guidelines a person of average intelligence could use a charger and a few batteries safely. Do you disagree? No sarcasm intended. I do want to feel comfortable giving this setup to a friend without expecting him to get as into this as I am. I have already explained all the basics to him but I don’t know where to draw the line. I’d be setting him up with only single cell lights (Convoy M2 for starters). I feel the Convoy line has respectable protection built in. Looking for honest feed back from all. Thanks.
But HKJ is…
I have been happy with my Klarus CH1 and HKJ has done a review HERE
I think it is fine with the 18650 cells, but it looks like it charges at 1A, so smaller cells may be out.
I have been using mine exclusively with 18650s for about a month with no issues. I think with the USB charge format, just tell your friend to charge it when he is on the computer, that way he can keep an eye on it and be doing something at the same time.
It does seem to cut off after charge is complete if I read the graphs correctly on the review….
Do my lights have over discharge protection? has some discussion — from what I understand, relying on ‘protection’ isn’t a good practice, it’s there as a backstop for screwups.
Are you going to make sure your friend gets only the best quality brand-name protected cells, and has a voltmeter to check them, charges outside, etc?
Worst case is injury to family, low likelihood but very high consequences.
My experience with anything dangerous is that people discount the knowledgeable precautions figuring oh, people are overcautious, nobody I know got hurt yet.
There is so much variation in what’s sold right now that it’s hard to guarantee you have no fakes, no damaged cells, never dropped, never overheated, not outdated.
http://www.baj.or.jp/e/safety/safety16.html
That matches my opinion and has worked nicely with the people I have given chargers and batteries to.
The MC1Plus looks to be a good charger (I have a review soon).
Yes they do, you can also see it on the display, It will usual change from "charging" to "full with power connected".
Please don’t think I am trying to discount the importance of safety but I do think there is sometimes an over-emphasis on safety regarding lithium rechargables. I do plan on only supplying him with quality protected cells from Mountain Electronics and I do plan on instructing him to check his cells often with a DMM but do your really only charge your batteries outside? I always try to charge my batteries in a semi fire resistant area but outside is outside of what I’m willing to do. If I take it that far I may as well start wearing a helmet to walk to the car. I’m totally on board with educating yourself and buying good products but if I thought I had to treat these things like ticking time-bombs the hobby just wouldn’t be worth it IMO. I mean no disrespect to your opinion. I do tell any fans of my lights that if they aren’t willing to educate themselves about litium safety then they should stick to alkaline type lights.
^
Good post - Well said.
Thanks,
-Chuck
Wow…MC1 Plus looks quite interesting
I have the MC1 and it worked ok, but had a weak USB plug…and was crazy cheap (I think it was $5.95 plus $3 shipping or something)
Bingo. That covers my concerns about else needs to be covered beyond finding an intrinsically safe charger.
And seeing HKJ’s
is encouraging on that question.
As to your question, if I leave a charger unattended, it’s operating outdoors — outdoor extension cord, rain shelter.
I almost never leave a charger unattended, because I recharge cells every day, so that doesn’t take long.
I’ve only ever found one li-ion vented, some years ago — probably weeks or months after it happened.
That was a several years old Ultrafire RCR2, one of the first li-ions I ever bought, that I’d used in an Arc LS when those were the hot new light.
Brown stain around all the vents on the positive end.
It was in a closed container, inside a metal fireproof box.
Never smelled a thing.
Made me thoughtful, though.
Thank you all for the feedback, concerns and good questions and points. And thank you HKJ for the recommendation. The MC1 Plus is exactly the one I had my eyes on so I’m looking forward to that review. Hank, I do thank you for your concern. You didn’t know exactly where I was coming from and these wonderful toys can be dangerous if mishandled or someone makes the rookie mistake (like I did) of buying a cheap charger and batteries. My first foray into the LED flashlight world was a Sipik 68 clone packaged with a generic JUNK charger and two blue Junkfire 14500’s. I think I got the whole package for around $10. After having them for a couple days I was charging them at my desk at work. All was well at first but about 15 minutes into the charging cycle I decided to give them the “touch” test to make sure they weren’t getting hot. Sure enough one of them was so hot it almost blistered my finger. I unplugged the whole mess, put it in a metal box and took it outside. They were supposed to be protected cells or so I thought. I didn’t even know what to look for at the time. I called Amazon and opened a case. I started getting serious about researching all this. Then I bought myself an Xtar charger and some decent protected cells and all has been happy since. I’m glad my blunder was just a little wake-up call. It certainly could have been worse.
So I know this thread is a month stale but if anyone was curious, I did choose the Xtar MC1 Plus. I’ve ordered a few of these now and will order more. It’s a great charger for someone on a tight budget just getting into the flashlight obsession and also a good simple travel charger since it’s powered by any USB port. Most of us have those everywhere now. The charger works nicely and cuts off the charge properly in typical Xtar fashion. Once HKJ gave it his approval I was sold. It’s the best versatile low budget charger I’ve seen.